Anime: Naruto
View Status: Complete
Number of Episodes: 220
Main Character: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi
The Story: 12 years before the story begins, the nine tailed fox demon or Kyubi was sealed inside the newborn child Naruto by the Forth Hokage(Leader of the Village), during this deed he gave up his own life. His hope was that Naruto would be seen as the child who saved the village from further Kyubi destruction. Instead he was treated as an outcast.
Naruto wants to become the Hokage so that he is finally acknowledged by everyone in the village, as they see him not as their savior but as their possible destroyer. The Third Hokage sought to rectify this in making it forbidden to even mention the demon fox. This however did not stop the parents from treating him like an outcast and the children picked up on this and did the same.
The first person that truly acknowledges him is his teacher when Naruto saves his life. In doing this he graduates from the academy and becomes a Genin(lowest rank ninja). The new Genin in the village are split up into teams and placed with a Jonin(high rank ninja) as their new teacher and leader.
During every mission and story arc Naruto gains the acknowledgement and friendship of more of his fellow Genin, and occasionally his enemies. It follows the character and skill development of all the members of team seven in Naruto’s quest to become Hokage and Sasuke’s quest to kill his brother and also it seems Sakura’s quest to be loved by Sasuke.
The Review: Now, I really liked this anime as it brought a whole new view into what I viewed as ninjas. Yes, it is a kids show and at times is therefore quite childish, but this anime is all about trust in your friends and receiving the acknowledgement of others. Also some pretty good ideas on how not to act in from of your crush. Back to why you should watch it though. This is like a prequel to a good story, the story being Naruto Shippuuden, which is now out. About 210 episodes, I am not counting fillers because they are useless, which give one a better idea of what is going on in Shippuuden. This may seem excessive and it probably, but the show itself, the fight scenes, the different techniques, it all comes together to bring you an anime that is truly addictive. Once you have seen the first 10 episodes you will not want to stop until you have seen them all. I like to compare this show to Dragonball Z, not because they are similar in story, but because you can’t stop wanting to know what happens next, and occasionally there are the long staring contest like scenes, oh and of course the calling out your attack before you do it. In my eyes it is the better, drawn, storyline and plot having, plot-twisting, version of Dragonball Z. Fun to watch is the verdict.
The Style: The style is not entirely up to the standards of today’s animes but it is a lot better than the older of the pack. Most of the time the colors are bright and cheerful, but during the fights and more sad or dark scenes the color scheme changes to darker almost evil. There are a few moments in the show were the style goes into the ridiculous as it does with most children’s animes, but these are forgiven when the fight begins.
Side Note: Naruto Shippuuden is like an improved version of Naruto. The thing is that Shippuuden rest on the facts of Naruto and without the knowledge about the world, skills and ninjas gained from watching the original you won’t have a clue about what’s going on.
Lex Out
